The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

MORE than eight years after waiting nearly six months to bury his mother following a fatal North Andros plane crash, Kermit Adderley Jr says the country has failed to fix the weaknesses that prolonged his family’s anguish, leaving relatives of the latest aviation disaster to endure the same painful uncertainty.

Mr Adderley, a 39-year-old licensed customs broker, said critical questions surrounding the January 17, 2018 crash that killed his mother, Margaret Adderley, and five others remain unanswered.

His family was forced to wait nearly six months to lay her to rest because of repeated delays in obtaining DNA test results.

Now, ten people have been killed in another North Andros plane crash, near San Andros airport on Independence Day. Some relatives have been told they could wait up to eight weeks for DNA results before they can identify and bury loved ones whose bodies were severely burned.

Mr Adderley said the latest tragedy revived memories of his mother’s death, but he is most troubled that the affected families are confronting many of the same difficulties his family faced in 2018.

“I feel for them, but I've already lived that. I wouldn't allow the government to tell me six to eight weeks because I know firsthand it takes longer than that,” he said.

“You hear all kind of things when you find yourselves in that situation but I just ask that those families, they just stick together and try to get some type of clarity and resolution but it's not going to come now. The release is not going to come now.”

Mrs Adderley was among six people travelling from North Andros to New Providence aboard a Piper Aztec when it plunged into the ocean on January 17, 2018, killing everyone aboard.

Mr Adderley described the country’s continued reliance on overseas laboratories for forensic testing as “kind of crazy” and urged the government to reconsider its priorities and invest in a national forensic laboratory.

“We spend money here and everywhere on everything else, but we don't see those type of things as priorities,” he said. “It’s disappointing to know that you now have ten families who have to go through the same process again. It's not until tragedies like this happen that there's a cry or need for better solution to the problems that we face as the people.”

Mr Adderley said his mother was among the first victims of the 2018 crash to be buried, with several other families waiting even longer to lay their relatives to rest.

The prolonged process repeatedly reopened the family’s wounds as they tried to resume their lives while waiting for her remains to be released.

Mr Adderley said he relied heavily on his wife and other relatives after his mother’s death. His younger brother, who was a teenager at the time, struggled deeply with the loss and became withdrawn.

“You're thinking it's a quick process in and out, but you go back to work, you try to find normalcy, and then you know six months later, you hear, ‘Hey, come pick up the remains, or let us know which funeral home to take the remains to’.”

More than eight years later, Mr Adderley said his family still lacks answers to important questions about the tragedy, including whether the aircraft was insured.

“Nothing came out of the crash other than a death,” he said. “No answers.”

His daughter still asks what happened and why, he said.

Air accident investigators concluded that pilot error caused the 2018 crash, finding that the pilot’s limited qualifications and experience, combined with adverse weather conditions, were key contributing factors.

Mr Adderley said the Independence Day crash hit close to home because he knew some of the victims.

His wife was related to Macaro Rolle, the lone survivor pulled from the wreckage, who later died from his injuries.

“We basically felt that again,” he said. “We knew exactly what it was when we got the news. We was having a family event, and and the place just went numb.”

The latest crash was even more unsettling because it occurred on the same island and near the site of the 2018 disaster, he said.

“I had aunts who had to actually go sit down and catch themselves,” he said.

Mr Adderley also called on the government to provide financial assistance to families confronted by sudden tragedies, saying funeral costs can impose a substantial burden while relatives are grieving.

He said his own family’s circumstances would have been far more difficult had his mother been its sole breadwinner.

“Some some type of compensation put aside to say, ‘Well, hey, this is just you know to honor you know the person that would have died or something of that sort. Nothing to build a house or a mansion,” he said.